A Wife by Any Other Name

Dorante is one of those slick French dandies who'll tell a woman anything to win her affections. Unfortunately for him, his patter is better than his memory. While Dorante pitches woo at Clarice, he thinks he's wooing Lucrece -- which is the name of Clarice's best friend. Dorante's problems escalate when his father attempts to arrange a marriage for his son to (wait for it) Clarice. Now Dorante must lie to his father (and everyone else) to get out of marrying the "wrong" woman so that he can marry the right woman (whom he calls the wrong name). Confused? Don't worry; Pierre Corneille's seventeenth-century farce The Liar is powered by misconception and deception, so the more tangled things get the funnier it becomes. St. Louis Shakespeare presents The Liar at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (August 15 through 24) at the 560 Music Center (560 Trinity Avenue, University City; 314-361-5664 or www.stlshakespeare.org). There is one 7:30 p.m. performance on Thursday, August 21. Tickets are $15 to $20.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 21, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Aug. 15. Continues through Aug. 24, 2014